Peter Skellern, pianist and singer-songwriter – obituary

Peter Skellern in 1975Credit:
REX/Shutterstock

17 February 2017 • 5:20pm

Peter Skellern, who has died aged 69, was a pianist and singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 1972 with the gently romantic You’re A Lady, which reached No 3 in the British charts, and went on to have a busy career as a performer and tunesmith.

Skellern, a fresh-faced graduate of the Guildhall School of Music, was married with a child and struggling to make ends meet working as a hotel porter in Shaftesbury, Dorset, when the song was snapped up by Decca, launching his career. It became a worldwide hit and was covered by numerous other singers including Brigitte Bardot with Laurent Vergez in a duet version, and by the ex-Monkee Davy Jones.

Skellern always went his own way and his idiosyncratic, but ever gentle musical vision encompassed everything from brass bands to the classics of Fred Astaire, and from television mini musicals to theme tunes and humorous ditties.